Nothing is True. Everything is Connected.
Tag: <span>Admin Posts</span>

Tag: Admin Posts

Sylum Information5

Update: Ernesto Olivetti Week Starts – May 29th

Ernest Olivetti Week

 

We are officially announcing Ernesto Olivetti Appreciation Week.

It will begin on May 29th.

There will be a new fanmix, specialized jewelry from the Vault, an Interview with the Inspector, and a re-introduction of Roads Untraveled.

To all our Ernesto lovers, want to contribution to Olivetti Week.  Make some fanart? Make you’re own Fanmix? Show your love for Ernesto … reply to this Post or email at sylumclan@yahoo.com and we’ll chat.

We’ve arranged for a special interview with the Inspector so we’re taking your questions.  Fill in the questionnaire and we’ll make sure to ask him!

 # # #
Sylum Information4

Coming Soon: Ernesto Olivetti Week

Sylum Blog Presents: Ernesto Olivetti Week!

We’ll be dedicating a whole week to our favorite Italian … no not Nico

Nico: Wait! Excuse me!

Ernesto: *smirks*

Ezio: Somehow I got dissed in the middle of this!  Am I not handsome?

Nico: No one can see your face *flicks the hood*

Ezio: Doesn’t stop the ladies from loving me!

Ernesto: *eyerolls*

ANYWAYS!!

Seriously I can’t even make a post without you two taking over it.

At least the Welshman isn’t here!

*glares* Stay out of this Count of Monte Cristo

As I was saying!

We’ll be having a weeks worth of posts dedicated to …

Ernesto Olivetti Inspector General of Vatican Security!

So what will this week consist of?

Well you’re just going to have to wait and find out.

 # #
Sylum Information1

Sylum Blog Has A New Look!

Blog Update

You may have noticed that there had been some changes to the Blog!!  We’ve been working hard these past week to update the blog, make it easier to navigate, and give it a make-over.

Everything that was on the previous blog can be found on this one.

The Sliders at the top of the Page will send you to the Important Pages or Links in and outside the Blog.

  • The Wiki
  • Q&A Center
  • The Writer’s Room (Introduction to those who work behind the scenes)
  • The Bobs
  • The Sylum Vault
  • The General’s Office
  • Nicholas J. Finch

The Menu on the black bar will give you access to the Blog’s Categories

  • Sylum Information
  • Sylum Stories
  • Roleplaying
  • The Clans
  • Sylum Events
  • Tag Index

The sidebar has 7 widgets (we had to narrow a few things down)

  • Search Field
  • Subscription
  • Information (which includes link to donate to the Sylum Hosting Company)
  • Links
  • Inspiration (Instead of image for the week, we’ve built a gallery for the month)
  • Etsys Mini
  • Meta

Please do enjoy the new theme!

A special thanks to Taibhrigh for helping with the behind the scenes and updated images!!

 

 

 

 # #
Sylum Information2

The 4000th Comment!!!

We’ve hit 4000 Comments!!

 

Congrats to Tuckercat for making the 4000th Comment!

Contact me at (sylumclan@yahoo.com) or reply to this post to let me know what character you would like a Timestamp of…

Though I’m going to guess the Winchesters 🙂

 # #
Sylum Information0

Blog Maintenance

Quick Update: Blog Maintenance

 

I had tried to avoid doing this until after Advent, but it got to a point I had to updates or cause more problems.  The Blog at this moment has been fully updated, along with themes and plugins.  This is a somewhat test and announcement – I’m hoping it posts to where it should be posting, and I won’t be screaming for the next two weeks because Advent posts aren’t doing what they are supposed to.

*crosses fingers*

 #
Sylum Information1

Sylum Blog: 1000th Post

wallpaper_manor

Sylum Blog – 1000th Post

 

So this will be the Blog’s 1000th Post!   I’m not sure yet if I should be horrified or not!!

1000 Posts.

1000!!

(EDIT: It’s now officially the 1001st … but hey the sentiment is there!)

Advent is likely the biggest contributor to the Blog Posts 🙂

And now for some interesting facts:

Subscribers: 702

First Post: July 29, 2012

Most Posts in a Month: 38 (December 2015)

Most Visitors in a Day: 741 (December 5th 2015)

Total Comments Made: 3525

Home Page has been viewed: 86,628

Top Page: Sylum Events & Sylum Adoption Center – 1325 Views

Top Posts: Coffee House Friday – 1122 Views

Most used search term to bring guest to the blog: coffee

Most interesting term search to bring guest to the blog: what+goes+on+inside+of+sylum+manor+new+orleans

Google Searches led to Sylum Blog: 6258

Most links referred from Sylum Blog (basically links people on the blog clicked):

4215 – sylumclan.com (Variations of links w/in the main website)

665 – Security Yahoo Group

***

I have to admit finding some of this information has been fascinating, there’s something about stats and figures that make things fun and interesting.

So basically it’s been 5 Years since the blog started.

1000 Posts later.

I still have no idea what Bob is up to half the time!!

 

 

 

 

 

 # # #
Sylum Information13

A Note from Bj Jones

Sylum_Manor_Dawn

 

I had tried to get this attached to the Sylum Update Post, but technology failed and worked all the same time.  So the original Post went out to email and Social Media, but didn’t add the new part.   But the blog posted the new part.  Seriously I don’t know.  I think even the technology is having a WTF moment today.

So now I’m adding this as a separate post.

It likely needs to be one.

I’m pretty sure we’re all in shock this morning.   Many of us don’t know where to go or how to handle what the fuck just happened.  I don’t normally get political and I’m not actually going to now, but I wanted to take a moment to say a few things.

Sylum isn’t going to go away.

If there is a moment in time when Sylum is need.  It is now.

I can’t do anything to change what has happened, but I can make a welcoming place for all.

Sylum has always been about family.  Everyone on this blog is family.  You are welcome here.

I will continue writing Sylum.  I will continuing making a world we’re we can hope and dream in.

Today of all days I wish there was a Sylum Clan.  Wish for a Nicolaus Meridius.  Wish for Jed Bartlett.  For a Pius XVII.  For Ernesto.  And I think we all could use Ezio right about now.

But if all I can give you is a place of safety, security, and something to make you smile and your day hopefully a bit brighter.

That is what I’ll do.

So in Conclusion.

Sylum is Here.  We’re here to stay.

Advent is around the corner and we have a fun idea brewing for it.

Sincerely,

Bj Jones

 # #
Clan War - 10th Anniversary Edition / Evolution / Family / Sylum Information / Sylum Stories8

Sylum Update: Clarification … Please Read

MG_4346-copy-2

Sylum Update

 

We’ve gotten some questions concerning 10th Anniversary Clan War … basically – how many more chapters?  And when will it be done?

We figured it would be easiest to post an update of where we’re at in the Grand Scheme of Sylum.

Lets be honest.

It will be done when it’s done.

Sylum as much as it feels like a full time job – isn’t actually our job.  There are moments in RL that nothing for Sylum gets done, because of work, family and social commitments.  We work hard on Sylum, but there is only so much we can work on.

Speaking of – Sylum Advent is bearing down on us, which is taking a HUGE portion of our time.

The 10th Anniversary Edition of Clan War is being worked on and it’s getting done – at this moment the chapter Clan War (not to be too confusing :D) is about 3/4 finished.   We hit a plot wall half way through it, which led to the previously announced canon changes.

Which led to edits – a time suck of epic proportions.

Family and Evolution both ended up with rough edits … just enough to update the series concerning the major canon changes mentioned. Specifically – Sam Winchester having the soul of Theo instead of Meridia.

When we finish Clan War *sends prayers up to Saint Roberto – Patron Saint of Plot Bunnies* we will fully edit Family and Evolution, along with Side Stories that will need to come inline with changes made in Clan War and the Wiki.

Do not worry.  We’ll posts announcements when we finish editing any story.  Dudes there will likely be fireworks, parties, and alcohol  involved with each successful update!

As for how many chapters are left in Clan War … normally I would point out how many chapters there were in the Original.  But with the way Bob has been working – I can say this:  as previously stated Clan War is 3/4 finished, Aftermath is the next chapter … These are guaranteed to be part of Clan War.   The rest will play out as we go.  Bob is and will always be an evil bastard.

Before the screeching begins.  No we’re not taking out Nick’s ‘Grave Danger’ moment … it’s likely to become it’s own story.  Why? Because if you noticed in the CSI Anthology series and what’s been published so far with 10th Anniversary Edition – there are a lot more connections and vampires running around Vegas … which will make that particular story more complicated.

So in conclusion.

Thank You for your continued support and sticking with us.

Please be patient with us as we can only do one thing at a time.

It will get done.

It will dammit!

As there is so much more to come.

In the meantime hold on to your hats and glasses cause wait till you see what’s coming for Advent!

The General

***

 

*moved post script to separate post

 # # #
Sylum Information1

From the General’s Desk

tumblr_oeg29xigbb1vadf9to1_540

This my desk at the moment.

Besides working on Sylum, I’ve started research on the next book.

At the moment I have a 100 page outline.   It wasn’t the story I was actually planning on doing next!!

The next idea was an Anthology of stories, but this one kind of popped up and said – Hello.

tumblr_inline_oefrpq3ng41sitq5n_500

I’ve got a lot of research to do.   There’s a big difference between ‘what you think you know they do’ vs ‘what they actually do’.  So, need to start pulling together reading material, websites, books, basically anything I can get my hands on.

tumblr_n2trt6cc7n1sjpn4oo1_500

Now that I’m starting on this new endeavor I’m going to work on posting updates, research, and even teasers over the course of this new adventure.

What is this new book?  Well I can give you the title:

The President and The Suit

***

If you want to read my first book  Conversations in Real Time  you can find it here:

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Itunes/Ibooks

Smashwords (Note: For those who have Kindle – you can find Mobi Format at Smashwords)

For those who have bought and read the book, please leave a review at where you bought it.  This would be helpful to spread the word and get others to buy it.

Again – the support you guys have given as been great, and hopefully you’ll keep following me on this endeavor!!

***

You can follow Nicholas J. Finch on Facebook or Tumblr

 # #
Sylum Information5

Sylum: Social Media

istock_000027555541_small-1260x840

Sylum: Social Media

 

With the recent problems with the Blog not sending out notifications or publicizing posts to the social media accounts we do have, I figured it was a good time to remind people of that we do have some presence on Social Media.

Sylum Twitter: To keep up to date on posts, new items for the Sylum Vault, and random thoughts from the Sylum Creators follow us Twitter.  If you have a twitter account it would be a good idea to follow – it’s here I’ll make posts about maintenance for the blog or updates when things go wrong.

Sylum Tumblr:  It’s not really Sylum, it’s my personal tumblr.  But if you want fun posts showcasing fandoms from Sylum or photos of Sylum Locations or snippets of stories I’m working on … even sneak peeks of upcoming Sylum stories.

Sylum Vault Tumblr:  It’s where we post our inspiration and showcase collections on the vault.

***

Nicholas J. Finch Tumblr:  This is still a work in progress I have to admit.  But I’ll be posting more updates about my next book, inspiration, and randomness.  You can also find links to where my books are being sold.

Nicholas J. Finch Facebook: Also a work in progress, at the moment what gets posted on the Tumblr goes to the Facebook as I work out how to utilize it the most.  So if you have a Facebook, you can follow what I’m working on there.

***

This would likely be your one and only time to suggest other Social Media options or ideas.  What platform would like to see Sylum on?  What would you like to see beyond the Blog & Twitter?

 # # #
Sylum Information19

Sylum Recap: What’s Been Happening This Past Week!

maintenance-1

Maintenance/Plug-in From Hell

 

Since last Thursday, after one of our plug-ins was updated, all notifications stopped.  Subscribers weren’t getting emails, and posts weren’t being sent to Twitter or Tumblr.

Nothing.  Natta.  Zippo.

I started personally posting it to Twitter & Tumblr hoping that would help, while researching and waiting to see what the problem was.  Come to find out the Developers of that plug-in were on vacation and wasn’t back until this Monday.

So I waited.

Waited.

*checks watch*

Posts still not going through, start noticing the message boards going crazy with the same problem.  Finally get enough info to send it to the developers directly.

So I waited.

Waited.

*checks watch*

Yeah that kinda week.

Anyway, long story short (too late) they finally got back to me and said oh it’s because the plug-in is timing out.  It times out if your website doesn’t respond in 5 seconds, you need to talk to your hosting company as it takes 20 seconds for your site to come up.

Me: Bullshit, my hosting server has always been slow it wasn’t until you updated this shit started happening.   And points to message boards I’m not the only one … you upgraded when didn’t really need to and broke something and instead of rolling it back or finding a solution you’re blaming ‘internet speed’ … yeah fuck you.

So I did what I normally do figure this out on my own.   In the end I cleared at Cache’s, got rid of the Forums … no one was using it .. and if you’re sitting there going ‘what forums?’ my point was made!  Then … wait for it.  I deactivated the plug-in counted to ten and plugged back in.  I’m not kidding.

It worked.

Well I’m hoping it truly worked we’ll see if this post gets sent out publicly.  Sends quick prayer to St. Isadore of Seville!  Note if you do get this via email, click via tumblr or twitter … leave a reply just so I know it’s working again.

A Few Things:

The ability to Like a post has been taken off, cause it doesn’t want to play with others.

As stated the Forums are gone.  I’m hoping we can get more discussions going in the RP and Coffee House Fridays.

What You’ve Missed:

As no one was getting emails and it wasn’t being publicized here’s a few highlights of Posts you may have missed:

Throwback Thursday: Demons & Angels by Timothy Quinn

Due to the recent Sylum headcanon changes concerning Sam Winchester now being Theo … no longer Meridia … both these stories needed to be looked at.  They were already on the ‘need to look at’ list considering changes in Canon from the 10th Anniversary Clan War Edition.

Secondary Note: Roads Untraveled is being worked on at the moment

Sylum: Quiet on the Set

You get to choose one scene from the Sylum Universe to be filmed.

Which scene would you choose?

Sylum Advent 2016: Check In

If you’re working on a story or artwork let me know how it’s going!!

Throwback Thursday: The Black Queen by Gil Grissom

Hotchner and his team go to Seattle to recruit a hacker and Aaron gets far more than he bargained for.

***

images

Please for the love of my sanity – let this work!

 #
Sylum Information0

Sylum Maintenance: Test

maintenance-1

 

We’re having issues with getting things sent via email or posted to Twitter/Tumblr.

We’re going to be digging around in the wires, pulling things and plugging it back in.

So if things blip that would be why!

 #
Sylum Information11

Sylum Head Canon: *look here for a moment*

Will-Smith-Helps-You-Forget-In-Men-In-Black-Device-Gif

Parts of Sylum Canon has just been erased.

Going to give it to you straight.

Clan War has been a pain in the fucking ass for a variety of reasons.

* It’s had fits and starts all the way through

* No one wanted to cooperate

* Everyone wanted their five seconds

* And a plot point in it that I’ve never liked slammed us against a wall

Add in RL work projects, burn out, and taking time off to work on the book – Clan War has been a long tedious pain in the ass.

So before I get into Sylum Canon that has been erased some back history:

I’ve never truly liked Greg has the soul of  Theo, Nico’s youngest.  When Sylum began there were a small array of characters to work with and I had no idea where at the time the ‘story’, as it was only supposed to be one, was going.   As the storyline developed and the amount of early fans that pushed the Greg/Gil pairing – Greg ended up with the Soul of Theo or at the time he was called Philipe – DO NOT ASK.

I went with it, worked with it, but was blah about it.   As the series progressed and we started into the 4th Arc, the more Greg began to disappear into the sidelines because I didn’t like the character or his role – to the point there was serious contemplation of killing him off.

Then we started on the re-writes.

On the list of things we wanted to change was Greg, after a lengthy discussion we concluded at the time that ‘it’s just to stuck as head canon for us to change it’.

And we moved on.

All through CSI: Anthology I cringed in writing Greg … don’t get me wrong I like Greg, just didn’t like him in this role.   And as Gil’s story, changed and developed through the Anthology it was obvious they had to be De-Mated as it really wasn’t working.   So I had at least got part of the problem ‘fixed’.

Cue Clan War and the never ending saga of trying to get this particular story finished, as we worked through the story – Greg was no where near the battle with Richelieu and the flow of the story had him being Turned at this moment instead of later Arcs … and again I found myself going *hmmm* death is an option.

Then something happened.

Bob tossed an idea so outrageous that it took us by surprise.   We sat at the table pulled out a box of Krispy Kreme Donuts and hashed it out, though it was working it wasn’t quite right.  Then one of his minion bunnies, obviously hyped on sugar, tossed the last idea out and suddenly it all fell into place.

The results of that new story idea changed Sylum Canon.

Basically it comes down to this.

Will-Smith-Helps-You-Forget-In-Men-In-Black-Device-Gif

*Look here please*

Greg Sanders no longer has the Soul of Theodosius Scipio Meridius.   He has no ties to Nico in that regards.  He is a Chosen One who’s family has been Chosen Ones since the Ice Age.  He was raised in and out of the Manor, stayed summers through his childhood, friends with Ellis, and was encourage to follow his dreams into Science.  He’s Nico’s friend and has ties to Warrick in a past life.   But he NO longer has the soul of Theo.

And while we’re changing Head Canon!

Sam Winchester now has the Soul of Theo.

But.

But.

He’s Meridia?!  Is there not going to be a Meridia?

Yes there is a Meridia, that has not changed and you will meet Meridia, at some point.

That’s all I’m saying at the moment.

So again Sam Winchester has the Soul of Theo.  Basically his story doesn’t change, Nico will still be very happy to see his youngest boy come home.  Dean just can’t tease Sam anymore about being a girl.

Before you ask!  The CSI: Anthology series has been updated to reflect this, as a matter of fact Playing with Fire has been removed from the Archive as it’s not longer Canon.  The full series – including the two stories that were posted with the 10th Anniversary Clan War has been edited and uploaded to the Sylum Archive.

Link to CSI: Anthology

A second note!  All 10th Anniversary Clan War Stories has been moved to the Archive, they were adjusted slightly if need be and given a final edit before being posted.  All future stories will be posted to the Blog and then posted to the Archive.

Link to Clan War – 10th Anniversary Edition

All other references will be updated as we go through the rest of the series as there are a few ‘canon’ adjustments needed for a variety of reasons.  If side stories get updated first – we’ll post a Throwback Thursday to showcase these stories!

The Matrix has now been reset

the-matrix_2835_1920x1200

And now back to Clan War!

*headdesk*

 

 # # #
Sylum Information3

Sylum Story: Re-work in Progress

madnessorbrilliane

 

It’s been one of those things, I knew with all the additions and updates this particular series would have to be looked at.

I’ve been avoiding it – for obvious reasons.

Due to a weekend of OMG  Bob REALLY!  It would seem now is the time.  As these changes will need to be shown for other stories.

And I’m not going to mention a certain character who inserted himself into storyline where he didn’t belong … and for once I’m not actually talk about Reese *snorts*.

No panic!  The originals are not being removed – they’ll stay in the Archive until this is done.

POTC

 

Lately with Bob off on a tear.

And working on putting all the story threads into the right places to set up future events.

I feel like ….

60706-Pirates-Of-The-Caribbean-3-at-World-s-End

 # # #